The Rocks and The Sydney Aquarium

On Wednesday, we took it a little easy following the hike. We were scheduled for the Bridge Climb, but a thunderstorm that afternoon forced us to reschedule for later in our trip.

Before the weather moved in, we walked down to the shopping district in downtown Sydney, called "The Rocks". It's an old cobblestoned area with many neat shops and cafes. We stopped at one of the cafes for a late lunch and were provided the entertainment shown in the video below.


These birds are rainbow lorikeets. They are the prettiest birds that I have ever seen in person. We got to see these two up close (at the table next to us). They were taking the salt packets and opening them with their beak.

On Thursday, the weather was still bad. Luckily, we had saved the Aquarium for a rainy day. After lunch at "Lime" a wonderful cafe that Liz recommended, we set out for the Aquarium. The highlight of the aquarium is the enormous shark and fish tank that is shown in the videos below. Great whites, hammer heads, reef sharks and many smaller colorful fish inhabit this tank. It is quite impressive.

In the first video, I got a shot of the great white swimming directly towards us (showing his teeth). He was large!!!


The second video shows the many fish in the tank. We just sat and watched for about 15 minutes.


The Aquarium was well-arranged around 5 ecosystems. Each ecosystem had a "primary" attraction. The large fish tank was one of them. They also had ecosystems built around penguins, "salties" - crocodiles, seals and platypus (forgive me, but I am not sure what the proper plural is for "platypus" - Could it be platypuses, or platypi). The platypus exhibit was very disappointing. Apparently, they are shy animals, so we were not able to catch a glimpse of one. The signage around the display pointed out places to look where they might be hiding, so it must be a common occurrence that nobody sees one.

The final picture is of the coral reef tank. The Great Barrier Reef will be the subject of a later blog. I thought this picture was really pretty.


REFLECTIONS - Urban Legend?

In 7th grade, I was told by my Social Studies teacher, Mr. Cato, that toilets in the southern hemisphere flush counterclockwise, unlike here (northern hemisphere), where they flush in a clockwise motion.

I obtained proof of the northern hemisphere clockwise flush motion in one of the men's restrooms in Terminal B of the Philadelphia International Airport. Something about taking a camera into the bathroom made me feel like a U.S. Congressman.


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At any rate, this difference could be explained by the coreiolis effect. Rather than explain it here, I will allow you to do some independent research of what it is.

Unfortunately, Aussie and Kiwi toilets are designed in such a way as there is no spin. So there is no way to conclusively prove if this is true or untrue based off of the toilets I saw.

I now hand this task off to Becky Cassill, as she has and will continue to see toilets on several toilets on 3 continents in the southern hemisphere. Her blog is linked on mine, if you would like to read about her travels.

P.S. I know the answer as to whether this is true or not. Send me a comment or email me, and I can tell you

Spit to Manly Hike and Doyle's on the Beach

On Tuesday, Rachel talked me into catching the bus (not the part she had to talk me into) over to the Spit Bridge, the starting point of our 9K hike (the part she had to talk me into). For those of you who are not up on the units of the Systeme Internationale, that is about 6 1/2 miles. Let this demonstrate my love for my wife, as I would not do this for anybody else. You will notice that I am conspicuously missing from any of the posted pictures. That is because I was completely wet with sweat, about the time we got off of the bus.

The hike meandered around the harbor. Perhaps "meander" is not quite the correct word, as we climbed up and down many, many, many stairs throughout the day. Some of it was along beaches, some through subtropical rainforest, and some through neighborhoods. It was really a beautiful hike.

Along the walk, we were able to take in several views of Sydney.

We also got to see some cool wildlife. This is a picture of a water dragon that Rachel walked right next to before she saw it. They are not poisonous, but they are fairly good-sized lizards. Click on the picture to blow it up to get a better look at it.

As we walked further towards Manly, we were able to see views of both the North and South Heads of Sydney Harbor. This is a good view of the North Head. Rachel calls this her "artsy" picture, because if you click on it, you will see that the camera is focused on the grass in the front of the picture.

This is a picture of Rachel in front of the North Head.

About 7K into the walk, Manly came into view. It is a trendy suburb of Sydney where a lot of college-aged Europeans live while traveling. The harbor is on one side of the burb (this picture was taken from the harbor). On the other side of Manly, is Manly Beach and the Pacific Ocean. The title picture for this entry is of Manly Beach.

During our walk, we encountered a couple of Aussie retired university professors. They are preparing for a pilgrimage hike of several hundred kilometers in Spain. Michael, the gentleman pictured here in Manly with Rachel, was extremely nice to us. He had visited Philadelphia in the past year, and was excited to meet some people who lived there. He said a couple had taken really good care of him at the Mummers Parade the year before and he wanted to take care of us to pay it forward. He gave us a tour of the town and recommended a cafe to us for lunch.

Following our hike, Rachel and I took the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay to Tim and Liz's, where we cleaned up for dinner. Tim booked us at Doyle's on the Beach, which is a famous seafood restaurant in Watson's Bay, a Sydney suburb.

We had a great dinner. We were served by a waiter who spends half of the year in Sydney and half of the year in the U.S. It would be really nice to live in Sydney, Australia during American winter. What a life!

REFLECTIONS - Aussieisms


An "Aussieism" is something that is quirky and not quite right. It is close, but not quite there. An excellent example of an "Aussieism" is Hungry Jack. As you can see, it is like Burger King in all ways, yet it is not quite Burger King. The menu is the same, the worker uniforms are the same, but the logo is not quite the same.

Some of my favorite Aussieisms include "How you going?" instead of "How are you doing?", to which one responds, "I'm going well." Instead of "Knock on wood", Aussies say, "Touch wood." "Yabbies" are crawdads (crawfish for you non-southerners out there). My favorite Aussieism is "Chook". This is a picture of a "Chook Crossing".

This is a picture of a "chook". A "chook" is simply what we Americans would refer to as a chicken. And of course the Aussies have an expression for "running around like a chicken with its head cut off." It is "running around like a headless chook."

My favorite Aussieism of all are all of the signs that adorn the roads outside of the cities. Instead of "manure" for fertilizer, Aussies sell "poo". I have always wanted to dedicate a Reflection to talking about poo, but I never thought I would have a legitimate chance... but... I do now. Aussie farmers sell cow poo, horse poo, pig poo, even alpaca poo, and yes, of course, Chook poo. I think that covers all of the poos we saw.

Tarango Zoo and Sydney Tower

Monday morning, it was back to work for Tim and Liz, so Rachel and I walked down to Circular Quay and caught the ferries to Tarango Zoo, which is located across the harbor from downtown.

The zoo sits on a bluff, which has great views of downtown Sydney. Tim commented that it was a good thing that the zoo was built many years ago because the land is worth a FORTUNE now. The layout of the zoo was very good. From the ferry dock, we caught a gondola up to the top of the bluff. The koalas are located at the top. After the disappointment of not finding one in the wild, it was fun to see them in their zoo habitat. They are really cute.
From the top of the bluff, you wind your way down several paths to see the various exhibits and get back to the bottom of the bluff (the exit). In addition to watching the live animals, Rachel and I were able to get some photos with the great stuffed animals shown here. She thought that my picture with the giant stuffed koala was especially funny.


The kangaroos at Tarango Zoo were sad. It was a little disappointing to see after being so close to them in the wild. We may be over-reacting, as it was mid-day when we saw them. Kangaroos are active at dusk and dawn and not much the rest of the time, so they may have just been napping.
We also got to see a wombat. They are nocturnal animals and are really cute. This one is obviously asleep. Some of the other cool exhibits included the birds, which were an open air exhibit. Although the rainbow laurikeets were a bit agressive (dive bombers), it was cool to walk through the exhibit. The snake exhibit was also good (Australia is home to 9 of the world's 15 most poisonous snakes). The chimps, orangutans and gorillas were all lethargic when we visited unfortunately. All in all, I would say that Tarango is a good zoo, but it can't measure up to the San Diego Zoo.
After the zoo, Rachel and I caught the ferry and toured Sydney Harbor. We got off at Darling Harbor and walked to the Sydney Tower, which is a blown up version of the Gatlinburg Space Needle. We actually decided to go there that Monday afternoon to watch the Queen Elizabeth II leave Sydney for the last time. It was a great view.



After dinner at Hart's Pub, where we met a nice couple from Connecticut. They told us that they cheered for Connecticut, but they think Gino Ariama is an arrogant jerk. We agreed. After dinner, we went back to Tim and Liz's and turned in for the evening.

Reflections - Videos to This Point

I am taking the easy way out on this one. I am using this "Reflection" to post the videos that would not post earlier. Enjoy.

The first video was taken at our cabin. Rachel spotted a kangaroo under our deck early Sunday morning. When we looked closer, there were actually 3. We put some food out for them, and they came out. The dominant one was boxing the others to keep them away from "his" food.


Here is a video of a hopping Kangaroo.


Another hopping Kangaroo.


Singing magpie.


Bat in Botanic Gardens - In the background, you will hear me say, "I can't see your mom going into politics." This was actually a compliment to Liz's mom, Jan. We did not know that Tim was videoing when I made this statement.


Wallaby crawling by me at our cabin at Eaglereach. He smelled the food we set out for him. By this time, he was not spooked by us, so he moved by really close to us.


Rachel and Kangaroos - This was shot on our way back from breakfast at Eaglereach on the first Saturday morning we were in Australia. I love Rachel's "Roo Dance".


Koala at Tarango zoo. He is so cute.

Sunday Evening in Sydney

First, I apologize for the absence, as we have had limited e-mail access while in New Zealand, so I was unable to blog. Secondly, the links for videos do not appear to be working on previous blogs. I will upload the links from Rachel's Mac (yes, it appears to be a PC problem, as the page will not load from my computer nor Tim's Dell).

I will be blogging quite a bit over the next couple of weeks to catch up to present. I want to keep the entries in order. Therefore, this blog incorporates events from Sunday February 24. I will also change things up a bit by beginning with "Reflections" on this blog.

Reflections - Two Queens Pass In the Night

On Sunday evening February 24th, the Queen Elizabeth II (pictured above behind Liz and Rachel) and the Queen Victoria, passed for the first time in their lives in Sydney Harbor. The Queen Elizabeth II entered the harbor for her last time (she will be retired to become a floating hotel in Dubai following this farewell voyage). The Queen Victoria (pictured below) was departing after docking for the weekend, and the two ceremoniously passed each other at the fort in Sydney Harbor, where they saluted each other with their maritime horns to the applause of thousands who had gathered along the Sydney shore to watch this historic passing. It was quite a spectacle to behold, as both ships are enormous.



The Blog - Darling Harbor and the Botanic Gardens After a magnificent weekend at Eaglereach, Port Stephens and the Hunter Valley Wine Region, Tim, Liz, Rachel and I returned to Sydney.

Following the passing of the Queen Victoria and the QE II, we walked through the Botanic Gardens, where we saw several amazing birds and the "flying foxes", as the Aussies call them. The flying foxes are actually very large bats, pictured here sleeping in the trees. We waited around and watched them come alive at dusk and begin flying around the harbor area. Luckily, these are fruit bats, so there is no danger to humans or small dogs or cats.

After watching the bats, we walked over to Darling Harbor, where Tim and Liz used to live when they lived in Sydney before. This is a really cool area with lots of restaurants and shops. We ate dinner at one of the outdoor restaurants and then strolled around the harbor after getting ice cream at one of the stands inside the shopping area. We stayed around until it was dark.

On our way home, we passed the Aquarium (topic of a future blog) and walked through the financial district on our way back to Tim and Liz's current apartment. Sadly, they headed for bed to begin another work week, as Rachel and I plotted our strategy of what we would do first in the city on Monday.

Port Stephens and Nelson's Bay

Saturday morning after breakfast, Tim and Liz drove us about an hour and a half east of Eaglereach to Nelson's Bay beach at Port Stephens.


After lunch at a cafe, we walked along the beach and played in the water for a while.
Nothing says "This water is freezing", like Tim's face in this picture. Although it was cold, all of us eventually adjusted to the cool temperature. We went back into town and spoke to a park ranger at the information terminal in Port Stephens. She gave us a lead on where we might find some wild koalas, but we had no such luck. Koalas are extremely difficult to spot in the wild, although this particular area has a strong population.

We headed back to Eaglereach for the evening and picked up our previously mentioned basket of food, which Tim grilled at the cabin.


Reflections - Go to Hunter Valley Not Napa Valley



This reflection is merely an excuse for me to squeeze 2 blogs into one. The title says it all. In no way am I bashing Napa Valley or Sonoma, but Hunter Valley is much better. Why? You may ask. Because you do not pay for tastings in the Hunter Valley Wine Region. You have to pay for tastings in Napa and Sonoma. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure you will not meet your break-even point for cost justification of flying to Australia rather than California, especially with the weak dollar.

Sunday after breakfast and kangaroo excitement at Eaglereach, we checked out and headed for the Hunter Valley Wine region. We went to two wineries (Pepper Tree Wines and Lindeman's Hunter River Winery) for tastings and had lunch at a cafe. The people at the wineries were very helpful and described the wines that we tried with adjectives that made absolutely no sense to any of us. I have learned that "This wine is more approachable than the other one" typically means, "This bottle costs $10-$15 more than the other one."

Eaglereach

Friday evening, Liz, Tim, Rachel and I left for Eaglereach, once Tim and Liz got off work. We had a cabin out there for the weekend. The picture above is the view from the back porch of our cabin. Moral of the Story: "If ever traveling to Australia/New Zealand, consult Tim Nagy on where to book places to stay." This picture is from sunrise. There was a beautiful low layer of fog in the valley. Saturday morning, we awoke and headed up to breakfast at the top of the mountain. Behind the restaurant, they have food for the kangaroos and native birds, so it is an excellent opportunity to get some great pictures. Ironically, the kangaroos and wallabys are going to the restaurant for the breakfast at the same time as the people are, so you actually see a lot of them on your way to the restaurant. As they do not have any natural predators in Australia, they are not shy of people. The picture on the left below is a picture of Rachel and me, with a couple of kangaroos on the way to breakfast. The picture on the right is us with a wallaby behind our cabin. The third picture is of a couple of crimson rosellas. You may want to click on the photo to make it bigger so you can see them more clearly.
The video above is of a kangaroo hopping around behind the restaurant where our breakfast was served. The picture on the below left is of this same group of kangaroos. The picture on the below right is of sunset from our back porch.

This picture is of the group of us at an overlook on the grounds.


On Saturday night, we grilled out at our cabin. Master chef Tim Nagy presided over the meal. We had steak, lamb, chicken, sausage and bacon. Oh yeah, and we had cole slaw, vegetables, salad, and a veggie burger for Rachel. The meal was fabulous.

Rachel and I woke up first on Sunday morning and went to the front yards to see if we could see any birds (we could hear them chirping from our room). We didn't find the birds, but we did find 3 kangaroos underneath our deck. We coaxed them out with some kangaroo food and shot this video of the dominant kangaroo "boxing" the others away from the planted food.


I put down more food in an attempt to provide additional piles so that the others could eat. A wallaby soon joined the group. He was afraid of the other kangaroos, so I put more food down for him. It was fun to watch him stick his nose in the air and catch the scent of the food. He would then wander over to it and eat until one of the kangaroos would scuttle him (wallabys are a little smaller than the roos). We were able to get within 8 feet of him to take pictures on several occasions. We had a regular marsupial buffet behind our cabin by the time Tim and Liz came out and joined us.

We Have Arrived in Australia

After 36 hours, over 10,000 miles, 4 airports, a hired sedan ride and a pickup by Tim, we have arrived at the Nagy's home in Sydney Australia. Rachel and I are really struggling today, as we had to make an unexpected trip to Grundy, VA to attend my grandmother's (Dad's mom) funeral. That resulted in only 3 hours sleep the night before our flight. For those who are not aware of the space constraints of a modern United Airlines 747, let me tell you that it is not easy for someone of my height and girth to sleep on one of those babies. WE ARE TIRED!!!
As I mentioned, Tim picked us up at the airport this morning and took us back to their apartment. It is amazing. It is only 2 blocks off of Sydney Harbor. Their apartment is on the 29th floor, so it has spectacular views. After cleaning up from our flight, Rachel and I walked down to the Harbor and had lunch at a cafe. We both had veggie burgers, which are somewhat different from veggie burgers in the States. This one had some ginger and spicy peanut sauce. I liked it.

After lunch, we took some pictures from the Harbor of the Sydney Bridge, which we will climb on Wednesday and of the Opera House. The Opera House is much bigger than what I expected. Having seen it on TV, I didn't realize just how long it would take to walk around it.

This evening, we are heading to the Hunter Valley area with Tim and Liz for the weekend.